What are the three
categories of Middle English Romance? Discuss them briefly.
Simply
speaking, romances are fantasies in which the authors make the fullest use of
their imagination and fancy and create an ideal world, which bears little or no
semblance with real life. In the middle of the fourteenth century a revival of
the old English alliterative verse occurs through romances, which develops –
side by side with religions literature. This literature is inspired by French romantic poems
and centers around Chivalry. There is an absence of originality but the fervour
of nationalism is present in the literature of this period. Heroes and subjects
connected with Britain are given reference in the romantic
cycles of chivalry. British stories are valued most and the native poets get
material for their original works.
Thus a series of romances appear with the Old
English epic versification and French romance invested with dignity and stately
splendor. In the Middle English period literature of the 14th and 15th
centuries is much more diversified than the previous Old English literature and
a very great number of romances can be classified according to subject, through
it should be noted that they are both alliterative and rhyming in metre. A
variety of French and even Italian elements influenced Middle English
literature, especially in southern England. In addition, different
regional styles were maintained, in literature and learning had not yet been
centralized. For these reasons, as well as because of the vigorous and uneven
growth of national life, the Middle English period contains a wealth of
literary monuments not easily classified. However, the romances of that
period are grouped in three categories. The romances which deal with
English history are known as ‘The matter of England’; romances
dealing with King Arthur is called ‘The Matter of Britain’;
romances dealing with classical theme is called The matter of ‘Rome the Great’;
with the French legends is called ‘The Matter of France’.
The Middle English literature of the 14th and 15th centuries is
much more diversified than the previous Old English literature.
